Kemi Badenoch to push for tariff-free trade at business leaders world summit
Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch is off to Abu Dhabi for a meeting with business ministers from around the world to discuss free trade tariffs.
She will seek to use the event to progress talks with counterparts over a trade deal with Gulf nations. She's also likely to meet her Canadian counterpart soon after there were questions about whether trade talks with Canada were really happening.
Kemi Badenoch and another minister, Greg Hands, will join 150 other ministers in the United Arab Emirates. They want to work out global rules that can change tariffs and regulations.
The Trade Secretary said: "Free trade creates jobs, opportunities for businesses and puts money in people's pockets. We want to see more barriers torn down, not new ones being put up.
"This is why it's important the UK is here at MC13, to secure meaningful outcomes for companies and consumers back home and around the world as part of the Government's plan to grow the economy and boost opportunities for our young people. I look forward to working with members this week to make that happen."
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The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said that UK ministers are going to speak with all six Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries to talk about a free-trade agreement. This will be the first time Kemi Badenoch meets all six ministers together, says the DBT.
After Ms Badenoch was questioned last week for stating in January that "ongoing" talks with Canada would prevent a crisis for UK car exports, a crucial meeting is set to take place. Fears are brewing over British car makers possibly facing a "tariff wall" when the current trade deal with Canada expires at the end of March, impacting the rules of origin.
Despite assurances by the Trade Secretary to MPs last month that there were "multiple discussions" underway with Ottawa, Canada's High Commissioner to the UK seemed to dispute this. Ralph Goodale told the Business and Trade Committee, "as far as I'm aware, since the UK announced its pause on January 25, there have been neither negotiations nor technical discussions with respect to any of the outstanding issues".
The Chairman of the committee from Labour, Liam Byrne, suggested that Ms. Badenoch has "questions to answer" regarding her remarks on the talks. A Government insider mentioned earlier this week that Ms Badenoch would be "continuing discussions" about unresolved issues with her Canadian counterpart at the WTO summit.
They clarified: "The Business and Trade Secretary told the House she was having 'multiple discussions', these are very different to the 'formal negotiations' or 'technical discussions' that were ruled out by the Canadian High Commissioner." Disagreements on food standards for beef and cheese led to a halt in UK-Canada FTA discussions earlier this year.
The UK and Canada ave been in talks for the past two years since Britain left the European Union. Trade has mostly continued under the original deal made when the UK was part of the EU, with a temporary side agreement protecting cheese and cars from higher charges.
During the meeting, the UK will also try to extend the World Trade Organisation's e-commerce break, which is a worldwide agreement that stops taxes on online sales, according to the Department for Business and Trade. Mr Hands said: "From preventing digital products like emails being taxed, to ensuring countries can challenge unfair trading practices, the UK joins this conference with a clear mission: to be the world's leading voice for free trade."
Development Minister Andrew Mitchell said the UK would also be "pushing robustly" for results at the summit that help developing countries benefit from free trade and global investment.
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